TDP Day 2: Up to Glacier Grey

I had a final breakfast this morning with Matt, David, Shin, and Will - and listened to their story of their LONG hike yesterday.  Most of which I am going to do today.  Then we bid our farewells.  Fun guys.

I packed up and set out on the 3 hour hike up Lago Grey to Refugio Grey where I would spend the night.  Today the weather was not so good.  Partly cloudy with intermittent showers.   I followed the backpacker advice, however, and only wore quick-dry hiking pants and thin quick-dry shirt - while other people were bundled up in goretex and/or fleece.  (The idea here is that my "warm clothes" were tucked away in plastic bags in my backpack, so that later on once I was at my destination I could bundle up in them.

  While hiking, if I was cold, it just meant I wasnt hiking fast enough.  At least thats the theory.  And in fact, it worked out pretty well.) 

On the lake I could see small ice bergs that had broken off from Glacier Grey which is at the north end of the lake.

My feet hurt too - damn shoes.

When I got to Refugio Grey, there was some confusion about me not having a voucher confirming my reservation.  For a minute I thought I was going to be out of a room.  But finally the guy said, ¨no problema¨and he showed me to my room.  Phew.  That said, it was a normal sized room that I shared with seven other people, thanks to 4 sets of bunk beds crammed in there!

I then repacked my pack with a lighter load and headed up another couple of hours to Campamiento Guardas, a campsite which is directly in line (but above) the Glacier Grey.

  From the campsite, I took a small walk out to the cliff where I could sit and overlook the glacier, watching it and listening to it.  I could hear it creak and groan as it moved ever so slowly through the valley.  And every now and then CRACK and SPLASH, a piece would break off. 

After sitting there a while, I decided it was time to head back to Refugio Grey.

At the Refugio, I really screwed up - I struggled through a cold shower at the camp showers, only to find that Refugio guest had access to the indoor and HOT showers (key work = hot) inside the Regugio.  So I took another shower, and enjoyed it a bit more than the first one.

I had dinner with Jann at the Refugio, and we also met Steve and Jane from Australia as well.

  I will realize throughout the trek that one of the greatest things is how you keep running into the same people throughout the hike and you can share stories and experiences...both of TDP and of travelling in South America in general.

I also realized today that hiking through the park solo is a bit risky.  One misstep and I could twist an ankle, fall off a cliff, get swept down a river.  I´ll have to be careful.  Especially since i´m now wearing my sandals for most of the hiking, not my stupid boots that spontaneously have started killing my feet!